Portsmouth voter profiles: Emery has a different outlook

PORTSMOUTH — Clayton Emery wore a kilt to the polls on Tuesday and his voting was as unconventional.

Comment

By Elizabeth Dinan

seacoastonline.com

By Elizabeth Dinan

Posted Nov. 5, 2013 at 1:31 PM
Updated Nov 5, 2013 at 1:34 PM

By Elizabeth Dinan

Posted Nov. 5, 2013 at 1:31 PM
Updated Nov 5, 2013 at 1:34 PM

» Social News

Editor's note: This is one in a series of profiles on Portsmouth voters today.

PORTSMOUTH — Clayton Emery wore a kilt to the polls on Tuesday and his voting was as unconventional.

For the City Council race, Emery said he voted for some pro-development candidates, as well as some anti-development candidates, “just to keep things democratic.”

“So it’s not loaded to one side,” he explained.

Emery said he didn’t pay close attention to the School Board race, so his strategy was to vote for all women.

“Because they cooperate and collaborate better,” he explained.

Emery described himself as a “new voter” who recently returned to Portsmouth after an extended period of residency in Washington D.C. He said he worked as a technical writer in the nation’s capital, where he got a first-person look at countless examples of government waste.

“The government is not very efficient,” he said. “When I was there, the GSA found three buildings it didn’t know it had. Everywhere you looked there were more stories.”

Emery said he’s “so glad to be back in Portsmouth” where he’s now renovating a house. “I really love voting and the little old ladies running the booths,” he said. “It is so American.”